Give Joy

Seeds as gifts

I have just received such a delightful message from my sister. She begins by saying she has never received such a beautifully presented gift and then continues that planting and watching the seeds grow will bring us closer.

Thank you so very much for lightening her life.

— M

Curated Collections

In my years as a gardener and as a flower farmer and a little bit of a florist, I've learned what works. Actually, I have listened and read and talked to a lot of very very good floral designers. I have my favourites and my workhorses and my cut and come again stalwarts. There are flowers that just go together, and if they look good in the garden next door to one another, cut a few stems of each, put them together in your hand and chances are they'll look pretty marvelous in a jug by a bedside too.

The secret to great flower arrangements is variety. You need some round flowers, some spiky flowers, some foliage and some contrasting texture and tone. Each of the cutting garden collections includes each of these; a foliage, a focal flower, a filler and a something to bring it all together.

Did I say the key was variety? Too much variety and you have a children's paintbox, not in a good way. (Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder. If you love this, you crack on. Just buy one packet of everything I stock and put it all together.) The key is cohesion. There are colours that sing together, that are more than the sum of their parts. Palettes of tones that just go. I've taken all the hard work out of this. There are fresh whites with zingy greens for people who like early mornings. There are dusty, rusty, vintage muddys. For those who love it a bit punchy and just can't bear this whole blush trend thing, there are the bolds. Just pick which one fits you as a person (or the person you are getting them for) and you are half way there to having your own tailor made cutting garden.